The Morning Swim Show, August 12, 2009: Thomas Lurz on Winning Open Water World Championships; Highlighting Jessicah Schipper’s World Record and Missy Franklin’s Swims at Juniors

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 12. OPEN water world champion Thomas Lurz joins The Morning Swim Show to talk about his wins in Italy and what lies ahead for him on the open water circuit.

In addition to that interview, host Peter Busch analyzes Missy Franklin's amazing swims at the junior nationals and Jessicah Schipper's world record at the Australian short course championships. Viewers can see the entire show in the video player below. The transcript of the news segment of the show follows.

A world record in Australia was set by Jessicah Schipper, who took down Libby Trickett's 100 fly record of 55.74 with a 55.68 at the short course nationals. Also swimming fast in the finals on Wednesday night were Ashley Delaney, who set a Commonwealth record in the men's 200 back with a 1:49.62, and Chris Wright, who won the 200 fly with a 1:51.11. Finishing second in the 200 fly was Nick D'Arcy, who is back in the pool after being denied a spot on the world championship team this year after the court accepted his guilty plea of assaulting a fellow swimmer in 2008. D'Arcy's time in the 200 fly was 1:51.40.

Back here in the States, the USA Swimming junior nationals rolls on, and Missy Franklin of the Colorado Stars was the big swimmer in Tuesday's finals. As you can see in this footage from Swimnetwork, Franklin dropped 1.6 seconds off her seed time in the 100 free to win with a 54.03. The 14-year-old is now the sixth-fastest American in the event and has slowly made her mark in the sprint freestyle events in the past year. She was one of the youngest swimmers at Olympic Trials last year, where she finished 37th in the 100 free with a 56.14. Her time last night would have tied her for second with Amanda Weir at the world championship trials. We'll find out what she can do in the 50 free on Friday.

Let's not forget the second place finisher in that 100 free, Lia Neal, who is also 14 years old and has experience from the Olympic Trials last year. Last night Neal swam a 55.00, which was a best time by more than a second.

Franklin won two more events on Tuesday. She took the 200 back in 2:09.16 and helped the Stars' 400 free relay win on the strength of her 54.30 split, which probably hurt after a 100 free and 200 back on the same night.

Kyle Whitaker swam alone in the 200 fly on Monday night, and he was far ahead of the field again in the 400 IM Tuesday night, winning by five seconds with a 4:17.59.

You can check out our full recap of Tuesday's swims on our website, swimmingworld.com. And thanks to Swimnetwork for the footage from junior nationals.

The USA Diving national championships began Tuesday in Tallahassee, Florida with prelims of the three-meter and 10-meter synchro events. The first medals will be awarded today in the women's 1-meter springboard final. Some of the medalists from world championships are on the roster to compete this week, including three-meter silver medalist Troy Dumais. You can watch the finals live by going to usadiving.org.